Giving Up Harry
by Bone White Butterfly
Summary: You know the drill: two Potter boys, one normal, one destined, one horrifying decision. But has it occurred to anyone that Lily and James might have gone to extreme lengths out of love?
1. Chapter 1

"Giving Up Harry"  
Ch01

The air in the bedroom was thick with forced levity.

"We've always named children after flowers in my family."

"Lils? They're both boys."

She looked up at him.

"No."

She smiled.

He glared. "No."

She just smirked, and his eyes went wide in horror. "Rowan."

"Rowan?"

"Well, if you prefer Petal…"

He coughed. "Rowan. Fine name. Not as good as Harold…"

"Ugh." She blinked. "…James Potter, don't you dare!"

"Harry," he suggested.

"…I can live with that."

The names were signed. The midwitch was paid, shown out the door, and promptly obliviated. The young parents fell silent as Albus Dumbledore strolled into the room with his wand only halfway up his maroon sleeve.

Without warning, Lily snatched up one of the babes and held him close.

"Lils…" James tried, but she only curled around her son. He backed away, defeated, and looked at Dumbledore as the wizened man laid a hand on his shoulder.

She glared up at wizard through her hair. "Leave." Her eyes went to her husband. "And if you're with him, then you go, too."

James sagged. The exhaustion of the past weeks showed in his sunken eyes and the deepening worry lines around his mouth. He finally turned to Dumbledore. "You'd best leave, Headmaster," he said softly and walked the man to the fireplace.

When the flames banked down, he leaned heavily against the mantelpiece. Lily let out a sound much like a sob, but neither moved for several minutes. "We need him," James said in clipped tones at last. It was the opening volley in an argument that had rapidly grown old the past few weeks.

Lily stroked her baby's shock of black hair. "He wants Rowan."

"So does the Dark Lord!"

"And his Supreme Mugwump-ness is any better!" she scoffed.

Call it stress, exhaustion, or insanity. Something in him just snapped. He whipped around, seething. "DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT DUMBLEDORE THAT WAY!"

She stared at him, wide-eyed. Rowan and Harry jerked in shock, and then started to wail. Numb, James took a step towards the bed where his son lay frightened and in need of comfort. Lily beat him to it. He took another step towards her.

"Potter." He froze. He stared as his wife, his world, glared at him in perfect animosity. Her eyes flashed. They promised death. It was ludicrous. She was weak from the births. Her wand was nowhere in sight, and even if it was within her reach, her arms were too busy protecting two helpless newborns—from him. He looked down. He had his wand in a deathgrip, aimed at his own family.

Oh Merlin, no. "Lils," he choked barely above a whisper.

"Get out," she snarled.

o0o

When the alarm went off, a chime instead of a klaxon, Sirius Black grinned and dashed to the fireplace. "Prongs!" he called as he saw James Potter stumble from the hearth. Then his friend dropped his wand from a shuddering hand, and Sirius stopped in his tracks. "Prongs?" he asked tentatively. James stared at him like a corpse with tears. He was suddenly seized with a hundred fears. "The baby—Lily! What happened! Did she fall? A stillbirth? What!" He grabbed James' shoulders and ended up supporting the man's weight as he collapsed.

James twisted to look blankly at his fallen wand. "I—" he swallowed. "Oh Merlin, I didn't mean to—" He tried to bury his head in Sirius's shoulder, but Black had followed his gaze and now threw him to the floor in shock.

"What did you do?" he breathed. James looked up at him, helpless. Sirius's eyes hardened. He scooped up the man's wand in a guarded movement, then gestured coldly. "Get in the far corner. Now."

o0o

Three minutes later, Sirius barreled through the fireplace, only to stop short at the sight of Lily leveling her wand at him. Her hair was wild, her eyes wilder. A swaddled newborn was in the crook of her arm. Another lay in her lap. Sirius raised his hands slowly and knitted his fingers together in the Wizarding world's internationally understood sign of submission. "Easy, Tiger Lily," he said. She shifted as she recognized him, but the wand didn't lower.

"It's okay," he went on. He took a cautious step forward. "Are you…all right? The…twins?"

She nodded. His relieved sigh made the wand lower an inch. He took another step. "So. What happened? I didn't exactly"—step—"wait for answers."

She relaxed her wand arm, and looked down at the crying baby in her lap, torn. "Is James okay?" she asked.

His brows went up into his hairline as he heard her concern, but, truth be told, he was relieved. "He's at wandpoint in my living room," he answered truthfully and flinched at the reaction. "Hey, don't look at me like that. He stumbled in acting like he'd just killed you; I was allowed to overreact. …He didn't try to, did he?" Her silence was not comforting. He was standing at her bedside now, looking down at an infant that scrunched its eyes and wailed. He met Lily's eyes. "Is…it okay?"

She sighed and laid her wand on the bedspread. "Just scared out of his wits. James has the lungs to be loud, when he wants to." Her hand slipped under the newborn's neck, and she tried to lift him with the other child still in the other arm.

Sirius shooed her away. "Here, let me." He picked up the child and began to sway gently. "Hmm," he said softly, "You're a lot lighter than Nymphie was. Kid had giant's blood, I swear." In the same lulling coo, he asked, "So you and Prongs had a fight? What about?"

Lily leaned back into her nest of pillows and brought her baby up into both arms. A tear slid down her cheek. With a shaky breath, she began, "A few weeks ago, Dumbledore came to us about a…a prophecy…"

* * *

_This story, written in four short parts, is complete (yay). The idea was to create a version of the Twin-Who-Lived-to-be-Given-Away concept where Harry was loved. I think the world needs both more James and Lily and less evil, OOC James and Lily. Also, no melodramatic, conniving, inner thoughts allowed. It's difficult to loathe anyone who sounds so stupid. Anyway, stay tuned for the next installment._

_Happy readings,  
C.E.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 02

Remus sat on Sirius's couch. His wand rested on his knees. His oldest friend sat huddled in the corner, having spilled his heart out. Remus was numb. This was not what he expected when Sirius firecalled, saying he needed to come over immediately. "Prophecy? You'll be Voldemort's number one target, then," he muttered to himself. "God, James." He raised his voice and asked coolly, "Why did you point your wand at her?"

James shrank in on himself "I don't know. It just—I wasn't thinking to. I just—" He hung his head.

"Instinct, then," Remus whispered as he stood. He came forward and pulled James to his feet. "Come on," he said before leading his childhood friend towards the fireplace. It was a bit of shock to come across resistance. He looked back to find James tense with a wary look in his eyes.

Remus blinked. Ah. He finally understood why the Potters had suddenly become distant from him in the last few weeks. He wondered if he was supposed to feel hurt. He wondered if he would feel hurt when he had time to sit alone and think about it. "James," he sighed, "If you trusted me enough to tell me about that prophecy, you better damn well trust me to not Floo you to Voldemort—or the Mungo's mental ward has a bed with your name on it. Think, why don't you, if you're capable of thinking at this point. How much sleep have you gotten in the last few weeks?"

James looked confused by the question. Remus wrinkled his nose. "You reek of Pepper-Up. I'm surprised I'm not having a sneezing fit. Romulus Den!" The last was said with liberal casting of Floo powder, and he hauled James through the acid-green flames.

o0o

Lily and Sirius's heads jerked up as the secure fireplace roared green. Remus walked through the fire a moment later with a limp James Potter curled in his arms like a child. He didn't seem fazed in the least to see two wands aimed at his vitals. "Dreamless sleep," he explained calmly and walked to the corner to deposit his unconscious burden in an easy chair. "His main problem was sleep deprivation. Add the stress of the raids"—he shrugged and didn't bother to finish the sentence. Instead, he cocked his head at the two bundles sleeping by Lily's side on the bed. "They're sweet," he smiled. "Identical?"

He walked forward and ignored the fact that Lily's wand hadn't lowered. Mother's instinct. He could forgive her, like he had forgiven James. He had to when instinct was involved, to avoid hypocrisy.

The twins—boys, he could tell—were wrinkly little pudge-balls with bits of black hair already poking out of their skulls. Their resemblance to their father was uncanny. He smiled disarmingly. He hoped Lily would take the hint and lower her weapon. "Have you named them?"

The new mother looked down at her boys for a time. "Rowan," she said at last and placed one hand on a tiny belly. "And Harry." When her wand came to rest on her lap, Remus gingerly took a seat on the mattress's edge.

"Did he tell you?"

He looked up at Sirius, who sat in a chair by the nightstand, completing their triangle of old friends. He nodded. "Which one?"

"Rowan," Lily sighed.

Sirius made a face. "Poor tyke."

Remus nodded. "What about Harry, then?"

Lily glanced at him sharply. "What about Harry?"

Remus reached out towards the boy, then paused. In the end, he curled his fingers into a fist, too wary to touch the child. He closed his eyes. "Did I ever tell you I was a twin?" he asked rhetorically.

o0o

"So the Ministry just took your brother away?"

Remus nodded. "And placed him with another family." He glanced up in the silence that followed. Sirius was being unusually thoughtful. As usual, Lily was looking indignant.

She opened her mouth. "That's—"

"One of the few Ministry laws about Werewolves I've ever agreed with," he finished for her. "Lily, would you ever let a werewolf live in the same house as a child, let one be locked up in the cellar while your babies slept in the upstairs room?" He could see her maternal instincts were warring with her loyalty. He shrugged. "At least my parents could defend themselves and had made the choice to put themselves at risk. Erik, though"—he sighed—"it just wasn't safe for him."

Sirius put his head in his hands. "So what do we do about Harry?" he asked.

Lily looked back and forth between the two of them. "What am I missing?"

They looked at each other. "Lily," Sirius tried, "The Dark Lord is going to be after Rowan. Everyone near the tyke will be in danger."

She stiffened. "No. I won't give Rowan to the Order to be made into some child soldier."

Both men blinked.

"_What?"_ Sirius gasped, aghast.

"We never suggested—" Remus paused and turned to eye James's prone form. "Well. That would explain the lack of sleep. Who told you that you would have to give up your son?"

Her eyes clouded. "Not my son. My sons. I wanted to go to a Muggle Doctor, get drugs, have them early, have them late." She threw up her hands. "Instead I was forced into bed rest, 'for my own good.' They started coming around noon. I tried, so hard, but Rowan was born three minutes before midnight, Harry about five minutes later…in August. Damn it, just three more minutes."

She began to cry. Sirius came forward and held her against his chest. "Hey, Tiger Lily," he sighed. "Just tell us who told you that rubbish and we'll curse the snot out of him. Marauders' honor."

She stayed quiet for a moment. Then reluctantly, she sobbed, "Dumbledore."

Sirius blinked. He traded looks with Remus, who was equably flabbergasted. Albus Dumbledore? The man could fire an Unforgivable at the Muggle Pope and still qualify for living Sainthood. He had given Remus a life by granting him an education and a normal childhood, and he had saved Sirius's life by granting him asylum from his family at Hogwarts the school year before he came of age. How could he be capable of thinking up such a horrid idea? And yet, Lily had said he was and that he did.

Remus closed his eyes. "He must have his reasons."

"Oh God, don't you start too!" Lily cried. She shoved Sirius away and collapsed into herself, sobbing. A second fit of crying started. The men looked to see Harry beginning to squirm in distress. Rowan remained asleep, at least for the moment.

Sirius sagged. Silent, he pointed from himself to Harry, and then jerked his thumb from Remus to their poor Tiger Lily. They both went into comfort mode. Harry soon fell asleep again, and was laid in the crib in the corner along with his brother. Lily remained inconsolable, even when tag-teamed. Eventually, they just lay down with her and let her cry. With a snicker, Sirius began to describe the look James would have on his face when he awoke to find his wife sleeping with his two best friends. Remus gently hit her with a powerful sleeping charm while she was suitably distracted trying to kill Sirius.

o0o

Sometime in the early morning, Mother Nature let herself been known in all her forms and glories. The twins awoke with hungry tummies, having transferred their first meal among the living…elsewhere. They let their discontent be known by shrieking, thus proving their genetic link to one James Potter and, most likely, banshees.

Lily Potter, exhausted from the miracle of birth and an encore performance, did not stir. Her maternal instincts might have awakened her, but she was currently under the effects of a sleeping spell specifically designed to knock out raging female dragons.

Curled into her pregnancy-plumped breasts was Sirius Black. God and Merlin help him when either Potter woke up. The wailing did not wake him, either. Sleeping through anything was a natural skill of his, seeing as he could snore loud enough to wake the dead.

As for Remus Lupin, staying asleep was a necessary skill learned long ago, for, you see, he was cursed to go through much of his life sleeping in the same room as Sirius Black, often without the blessing of a silencing spell. In comparison, the twins were rank amateurs.

Unfortunately for James Potter, even the advantage of having slept in the same dormitory as Black's thunderous snores (and Peter Pettigrew's accompanying train whistles) could not save him from the banshee twins. The Dreamless Sleep's hold on him had weakened, and his parental instincts were strong enough to make him crack open an eyelid. Seeing where Sirius Black's head was in relation to his wife's chest did the rest.

* * *

o0o

_So we learn that only one twin is an eligible candidate for the prophecy due to Lily's efforts. Dumbledore proves yet again that he doesn't understand familial love, for all that he might cherish the idea of it. And speaking of ideas: Remus. Who would have thought that the notion of giving up Harry would come from the gentle werewolf? _

_Look forward the next part of "Giving Up Harry" tomorrow. Until then, happy readings.  
yours,  
C.E. _


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 03

James Potter glared at Sirius Black's offending, big, fat head on his wife's chest. He did so until he noticed Remus Lupin sandwiched in on her other side. Somehow, this made him calm down. He wasn't quite sure why. He wasn't given much time to contemplate this. When the blood stopped roaring through his ears, he suddenly heard two heard-rending cries. He looked and saw them: his sons. Two little perfect creatures, one destined to defeat the most horrible monster of their time. A tear slipped down his face. Why?

o0o

Lily awoke as a wand lifted away from her forehead. She opened her eyes to see James standing over her. She frowned warily at the sight of his wand in his hand. He shrugged. "I found it on him." He pointed, and she looked down to see a curly head nestled in her cleavage. Her eyes narrowed. "We need to talk," James sighed, breaking her from her creative curse brainstorming session. "About the twins." She instantly looked to the crib and gave her husband a look of pure rage when she found it empty. He sagged. "They're asleep downstairs," he said defensively. He held out a hand to her. "We should get back to them."

She reluctantly took the hand, and he pulled her from the tangle of Marauders. They paused a moment to watch Sirius and Remus adjust to the new empty space by curling closer together. Sirius began to snore. "Cute," Lily smiled faintly before heading out the door towards her babies.

James looked around. "Where is my camera?"

Lily's voice floated back into the bedroom. "_Accio_ Nitwit!"

o0o

They sat on the living room floor with the twins sleeping on the rug between them. Their staring contest didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. But then James sighed and buried his head in his hands. "I just…I'm scared," he whispered. "I don't want us to die. Dumbledore's way seems like the only—"

"No." She shook her head adamantly.

"He's a good man."

"Yes," she agreed. "But he's looking at the greater good. I'm more selfish than that." She stroked Rowan's tiny hand. It was hard to believe that tiny hand would one day wield a wand—wield a wand and kill.

"…What's the selfish thing to do, then?"

She glanced up at him, questioning.

He only smiled sadly and reached out to smooth Harry's unruly, if somewhat threadbare mop. She gave him back the same weak smile as she exchanged one weight on her heart for another. They both looked down at the twins, knowing they were about to accept a great many hardships. At least now they were finally a family.

o0o

"All right. Three…Two…One…_Envenerate_."

The spell enveloped the sleeping Sirius and Remus and, slowly, they began to stir. At first they just entangled themselves further. Sirius actually ended up on top of Remus. Then they opened their eyes—and did a serious double take. A flash bulb went off. They whipped around to see an open door, nothing more. Sirius groaned and dropped his head down by Remus's ear. "Invisibility cloak?" he asked under his breath.

The red-cheeked werewolf turned his face away from the door. "What do you think?"

Sirius smirked. This was going to be _fun. _

o0o

When one pranked as much as a Marauder did, things were bound to go horribly wrong once in a while. This was, without a doubt, the worse time ever. What was supposed to be blackmail to end all blackmail (including that incident with the lutefisk) had quickly become a waking nightmare. Oh, the prank had gone well at first. The pose had been perfect, the photograph a paragon of comedic timing. Lily was even managing not to snicker. And then _it _happened.

Sirius propped himself up on Remus's chest, asked "They gone?" with a smile, and then, without warning, attacked Remus's mouth—and everything else.

Now, James hadn't exactly been handled with kid's gloves all his life. He had survived the hormonal tornado called Hogwarts, 7th Year. He had even had the luck to Floo in on his elderly parents one fine summer afternoon. This was, by far, the worst sight he had ever seen.

Oh Merlin, was Remus responding?

Gagging, he fled the room. Lily was about five seconds ahead of him.

o0o

Supernatural strength means nothing when trapped in a superior pin. Nonetheless, Remus finally got the leverage to extricate himself—mostly—from the monster sometimes known as Sirius Black. He glared at the man straddling him. "You…" He turned to the open bedroom door. _"You…"_

Sirius pecked him on the cheek, then laughed, "Oh, calm down, Moony!" He broke into a feral grin. "After all, it was just a prank."

o0o

"It was just a prank."

James had just said that for the eighth time, trying to convince himself. Sirius was finding it deliriously funny. Every now and then during breakfast, he would make a comment that, while capable of making Lily flush bright red, gave nothing away either way. James had given up on him and was instead trying to get the truth from Remus. Unfortunately for him, whatever Remus thought and felt was hidden behind a perfectly straight-faced façade. Seething mad at Black for pulling him into the prank unawares or flaming embarrassed at having been found out, it was impossible to tell. He just ignored James like his life depended on it and picked at his toast.

This, it seemed, would go down as one of the great mysteries of life. Were Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, in fact, lovers—or was it just an elaborate hoax? Only two people knew, and they were not telling.

* * *

_I am such a tease. My honest opinion on the pair is that while Sirius could possibly love Remus as more than a brother, Remus is most likely straight (Teddy anyone?). I didn't create HP, though, so I'm leaving it up to interpretation.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 04

"So we're agreed."

The men at the kitchen table nodded at Lily's words. A soft "Agreed" was called in from the adjoining den where Sirius was entertaining the now two-month-old twins. They couldn't let the boys too close to the sketched pages of protection runes spread over the table, but neither were they willing to leave the pair alone for an instant in case of an attack. Lily sighed, still wishing there was another way but still seeing the necessity of what they were about to do. "Two secret keepers," she reiterated, hoping someone would come up with a better plan in the eleventh hour. "One over Rowan…one over Harry."

Remus sipped at his tea. "Who will you choose?" His chair was set several feet from the table. It was getting close to the full moon and, as usual, he didn't trust himself.

James and Lily shared glances. The logistics of keeping the Potter family safe were headache-inducing. If one safehouse fell, the identity of the other keeper had to remain unknown.

James steepled his fingers. "Lily and I are going to be social butterflies for about a week, be seen talking to everyone and his brother, to spread around the suspicion. When we fall off the radar, no one will know who our keeper is but us and him.

"Or her," Lily interjected swiftly.

"Or it!" called out Sirius helpfully from the den. The three old school friends rolled their eyes at the Black scion's typical antics, but they felt better for it. After all, if the Marauders could no longer joke, they might as well give themselves up for dead.

o0o

"You can hold him, Severus. He won't fly apart at the seams."

The newly hired professor (and newly inducted Order member) didn't look at all convinced. Lily smiled brightly. "Consider it practice for dealing with all those snot nosed brats come September." Right on cue Rowan managed a snot bubble of impressive diameter, and Snape retreated further back into the shadowy corner, alarmed. Unmoved, Lily stared at him unblinkingly. She watched his expression slowly change from "not on your life" to "former friends or no" to a kind of fragile chagrin as he held out his arms.

In another room, James stood just a few feet from the center of attention. That spot belonged to Neville Longbottom's nose, where Harry had firmly placed his tiny hand. Even Neville was looking down at the invasion personal space, crossed eyed and completely bewildered. Around them was a riot of adult laughter. Alice Longbottom shared an impish grin with James while her husband Frank shook his head at the pair before rescuing his son from the newest incarnation of Potter madness.

"James, a word?" James's smile faded as he turned towards Albus Dumbledore. The inherent problem with inviting the entire Order to his home was that the leader would inevitably show up as well. He wrapped Harry into his arms before inquiring, "Yes, Headmaster?"

"It's Albus, my boy," the elderly wizard insisted before gesturing to the room's exit. James and Harry soon found themselves secreted away to a quiet room previously locked for the party. James felt himself tense. Harry seemed inordinately interested in tasting the Order leader's beard. Albus allowed it for a moment before extricating his facial hair from the baby's mouth and tilting up the small chin. "So this is Rowan."

"Harry, actually."

"Ah, yes. The August child. And where is Rowan, then?" Albus Dumbledore as always was gentle, kind, and somehow above the concerns of mortal men.

"Around here somewhere," James replied vaguely.

"Has Lily not yet reconsidered?" Albus drifted a finger towards Harry, which invariably ended up somewhere near, if not inside the baby's mouth.

James took a breath. "I'm the one who has…reconsidered."

"I see." Albus's half-moon gaze was indomitable. "I would advise you again to heed my wisdom on this, but it is your family, James. I know that you will choose what is best for them."

A few things fell into place for James. For all his greatness, Albus was old. He hailed from a generation when even the marginal pureblood household placed all the responsibility and decisions in the hands of its family head. He vaguely remembered that Albus had been charged with caring for his younger siblings at age sixteen when his mother passed. The loud rows Alice Longbottom got into with her well-meaning but domineering mother-in-law were infamous in Order and Auror circles. James himself had grown up under the adamantine law of his aging father, and for all that his mother was a lively, spirited woman in her eighties, she had followed her husband's orders to the letter.

What Albus was failing to see was that Lily Potter née Evans was about as complacent with a decision she didn't endorse as a hungry horntail. And unlike most dragons, she had a Hogwarts education and was expected to obtain her Charms mastery by the tender age of twenty-three.

In short, the upbringing James had received in a traditional pureblood household was very much tempered by his fear of his wife.

All he said to Albus was, "What is best for my family, yes."

o0o

Remus was one of the few Order members to miss the Potter and Longbottom "They're Boys" party. His absence was due to a prior engagement. At moonset, his mind flooded back, his bones twisted, and he shrieked. A minute later he flopped to the forest floor, ready, as he always was that time of month, to roll over and die. It took a moment to register when someone draped a set of robes over his naked body. He turned his head fractionally and took in the sight of Sirius sitting beside him in his underthings. The Black son, for all of his iconoclastic ways, was surprising traditional when it came to his unmentionables.

"For crissakes, man," Remus muttered hoarsely. "It's the end of the twentieth century. They're called underpants."

Sirius was wide-eyed and indignant. "But the breeze is healthy!"

"Right." Remus rolled his eyes and went to stand before collapsing with a distinct whine, and like that, Sirius was on him.

"Rough night, huh?"

"I don't need your help."

Sirius pulled him upright despite all protests. "Sure you don't. Right arm." He snatched the arm when it wasn't proffered and threaded it through the robe's sleeve. "Mungos?" he asked.

"Bad…ugnh…idea. They're testing patients now."

"For lycanthropy?" Sirius made a sound of disgust. Keeping Remus's secret safe was becoming exponentially harder as time went by. The pureblood tried out his friend's word in his mind. Crissakes, Remus had been operating under an assumed name since he started Hogwarts. That in itself should have been enough, but paranoia was high and increasing with every public werewolf attack. Sirius remembered vividly the morning a few moons back when Remus burst into his house, hyperventilating about a little get together at his boss's and how he would be hauled in by the Werewolf Capture Unit for "questioning" if he didn't show.

That night, under the light of the full moon and about ten thousand glamours, Sirius had played shy at the house party in the guise of Remus Lupin. He conspicuously touched every silver object he could lay hands on. He bit an impressive gouge into his tongue as he listened to the topic of discussion: beast reform. "Remus," acting quite out of character, quit his job a few days later. Remus didn't forgive "himself" for days.

"Sometimes," Sirius heard his friend whisper, "I just want it all to stop. Just end."

And that was his cue to apparate the werewolf away from the forest and cram cheering potions down his throat.

o0o

In a haze of smiles and warm, fuzzy feelings, Remus glanced around the flat Sirius had brought him to. "New place?" he asked the man trundling about the small, decidedly Muggle kitchen.

"Just bought it. Here, drink this."

Remus glanced down at the mug that was suddenly in his hands. "Are you trying to overdose me on potions?" He was a little perturbed when he realized he had giggled the question.

Sirius dropped into a chair beside him with what should have been enough force to shatter it. "That," he pointed, "is soup. Made it myself."

"I think I'll take my chances with the potions."

"Hah. Drink."

Remus drank. After an hour of following similar one-word instructions, he turned over in bed and blinked. "Sirius, there's a crib in your bedroom."

The man in the chair at his side replied, "So there is." He didn't turn away from Remus. "It's Harry's."

"Why are you telling me this? I can't know that you're the keeper."

Sirius shook his head. "I'm his godfather. I promised to raise him if James and Lily couldn't. I'm not his keeper. Remus?" He paused to grab up the werewolf's hand. "Moony, I have had the honor of keeping your secret for eight years. You're the most noble man I know. This Order business of keeping you out on the fringe is ridiculous. Remus Lupin, I want you…"

"No," Remus whispered, horrified. "You can't ask me to."

"I knew you needed another cheering potion," Sirius muttered under his breath. Louder, he asked mildly, "Can you give me a reason to ask anyone over you?"

"You can't trust me. I can't trust…"

"Yourself? Moony, I'm not asking you to babysit the boy on full moons. You live your life. You keep quiet. You're good at it…the quiet part at least."

"The wolf…"

"Aht!" Serius interrupted. "Remus, I've spent a lot of time with that wolf. He's an overgrown puppy that has issues with human blood, but he isn't exactly chatty. If 'Awwoo' can be translated to mean, 'I'm the keeper, Harry's at the follow address'…then I'm in trouble because I'm picking you, and that's final. Now sleep."

Under orders, Remus eventually drifted off feeling terrified but somehow touched.

o0o

"Sirius Black and Harry Potter are hidden at 410 Willowbark Lane, London." James read the disguised handwriting before handing the note to Lily. She passed it to Peter. It moved to Frank and Alice Longbottom, to Albus Dumbledore, to Poppy Pomfry, and finally to Remus, the last in small the circle. He skimmed the sentence and then burnt the parchment to ash.

Harry starred at the people around him from his place in Sirius's arms. Lily, gripping a comatose Rowan, stepped forward and kissed him on the forehead, the only reasonably dry place on his face. "I'll visit all the time. Love you, baby," she whispered.

"It's only for a little while," Sirius promised her. "It's just until we get a handle on this stupid war. You'll see. Say 'see you soon,' Harry." He picked up the small hand and shook it in a wave. Then the portkey kicked in and the pair vanished.

The Potters were quiet, Remus as well. Dumbledore's wordless disapproval was fairly deafening as he apparated away. Into the ensuing silence, Frank finally interjected, "Have you picked your own secret keeper yet? We're having a hell of a time."

Lily nodded slowly. "We have a person in mind."

o0o

It was days later when James appeared before a startled Peter Pettigrew, grabbed him, and surreptitiously portkeyed them back to the Potter home as the man in his pajamas clutched his midnight snack. A little less than three weeks after that, late on Halloween night, Voldemort came calling.

James and Lily Potter died knowing that, because they loved him, at least Harry would live. And he did—but that is another story.

* * *

_FIN…for now_

_I hope you enjoyed. It is somewhat sad that the Potters die a year early in this AU world, but they did what they thought was best. There will be a continuation of this story in the future once I finish more of my WIP fanfic projects. Add "Giving Up Harry" to story alert if you're interested in learning how this world's Harry would grow up with Sirius and Remus...and want to what happened to Rowan. Story alerts are painless, and you receive pleasant surprises in your inbox; I highly recommend them._

_Happy Readings,  
C.E.  
_


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